Public relations recruitment as boundary-making: the client, the ‘fit’ and the disposability of diversity

Lee Edwards and Sundeep Aulakh

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: In this article we explore the ways in which specialist recruitment practices for the PR industry influence the pursuit of diversity in the profession. Drawing on interviews from an exploratory study of specialist PR recruitment in the UK, we combine Abbott’s theory of boundary-making between professional fields with existing research on the exclusionary dynamics of recruitment in professions, to explain how PR recruitment consolidates the focus on client and candidate ‘fit,’ and is likely to work in favour of preserving the dominance of middle-class, white and gendered identities in the profession. In this context, diversity is perceived as a risk rather than an opportunity and becomes a casualty of professional logic.

Keywords: public relations recruitment; diversity; discrimination; professional field; boundary-making; Public relations recruitment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J01 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2024-01-31
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in Public Relations Inquiry, 31, January, 2024, 13(1), pp. 93 - 112. ISSN: 2046-147X

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/120467/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:120467

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager ().